I'm certainly enjoying the competition thus far! I'm glad I decided to join. It's difficult to write something meaningful about such short pieces of music, but here is my attempt:

The Wildchild: 3.5 - Good riff; maybe a bit meat-and-potatoes.Ultraussie: 1.5 - Hard to make out and hard to make out to; sounds a bit too chuggy for my tastes in this genre.RiffYourFaceOff: 4.0 - Another pretty basic riff, but it reminds me of all the classics in the genre.Sanitarium91: 5.0 - Awesome! If this were in a song, it would be one of those riffs that really stick with you; a real highlight!Helloween4Ever: 3.5 - Didn't remind me of Helloween. Could have been a bit more melodically adventurous, but still a nice riff.The Virtuoso: 3.5 - I really like the hammer-ons/pull-offs between the chords, along with the progression itself, but it sounds very chaotic rhythmically. If cleaned up, this could have been a 4.0 or 4.5.crazysam23_Atax: 3.0 - Very basic. Not bad, but could have been more interesting.SaintVitus: 3.5 - Nice progression. You could have taken it a bit further though.Kytokinesis: 4.0 - Nice! Sounds like a classic power metal riff.NosferatuZodd09: 4.5 - Sounds exciting and well-composed. Reminds me of Amon Amarth in the way that it uses lower notes as a rhythmic backdrop to a lead-like melody higher up.Abomination94: 4.0 - Hits the right notes. Tightly played!Jehannum: 4.0 - Good riff. Also reminds me of Amon Amarth (maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something?). Takes me to the mood of songs like Runes to My Memory.

I guess I liked the melodic riffs the best. The more supportive/rhythm type of riffs did less for me, and I guess that's mostly because we're hearing them in isolation here. Still, I applaud everyone that decided to come through with participating.

Will try to be as non generic with my review of the riffs lol which might fail (caught myself using too many buzzwords but I think I righted the ship)

Also thanks Lad! I wasn't going for anything Amon Amarth (never have or will) but haha I think in a way the melody's actually carried by the rhythm note given it progresses and develops different intervals in conjuction with the lead notes; whereas the lead line is a static pattern glad you caught that. As for Sanitarium haha whoops I'll tune my guitar well for the next round :P I confess I wasn't trying to go typical heavy metal with that but perhaps what my take on a genre riff would be were I to write a song [ I often use intervals like those ] lol

here are my reviews

Helloween4Ever - 3.5/5 - Actually really liked this one, I love riffs that are more than just a few powerchords haha. and I liked the note choices.

Ultraussie - 1.5/5 - sadly it's incredibly hard to hear although I think I finally figured out what it is,

Sanitarium91 - 5/5 - hell this is as good a heavy metal riff as I've heard; l think I might just as well just give it a five lol. I love the progression and the interval usage, I WANT A TAB DAMNIT

RiffYourFaceOff - 3.5/5 - strong entry for sure, also a very traditional tone to it. classy stuff. gotta love the groove of those triplets hah

UnarmedLad - 3.5/5 - it's great how you develop the riff with those few fills upon the repeat it really takes it to another level.

Jehannum - 4/5 - I quite like the intervals you picked and everything about it seemed more elaborate than your average heavy metal riff. all in a sweet entry, would definitely like to see a tab for it haha. Although the ending feels a tad awkward lol

Kytokinesis - 3.5/5 - I was gonna give it a four or maybe a 4.5 at first.. but it just ended so damn suddenly it didn't feel like it concluded what so ever, otherwise I think it was fantastic, great note progression/choice. I really liked where it was going

SaintVitus - 3/5 - as heavy metal as it gets haha

crazysam23_atax - 2.5/5 - for some reason it didn't do much for me and it didn't seem... to go anywhere, it was just liking something to stand out I guess?

TakenBR - 3/5 - while I think it was a fresh idea it wasn't executed in the best of ways, it seems to randomly go into that harmonics section for no reason. I think had that been developed better it would of had a higher score.

The Virtuoso - 3.5/5 - just like above I think it was a good and refreshing idea however I think in execution it fell a bit short. the extra hammer ons and what not just felt a bit forced or a tad.. off and it gave the song awkward timing. although perhaps you were trying to get some prog elements in your heavy metal. As for me though it felt a bit awkward even with such foresight

Abomination94 - 4/5 - sounds pretty legit. very much emboding the spirit of heavy metal but as Sanitarium said with a more "menacing" vibe, yet not something I'd call truly menacing.. (heavier than standard flare heavy metal perhaps? more oriented towards war themes maybe or stuff of the sort)

it seems that is all, personally for me Sanitarium won the round, but there were some great riffs all in all. I think I'm going to tune my guitar better and reupload mine even if the judgings over haha. and will get the next round's riff ready, HMMM.

and haha dang it, I figured that riff could fit either of these three genres enough lol :P [heavy metal or power metal since it does use similar intervals here and there and well melodeath] but I think if it was melodeath it'd be the very heavy metal-ey/power metal-ey side of it.. later in the same song there's a variation that's IMO a lot better but it's a lot darker and I think it wouldn't've fit this round ;c

Helloween4Ever - 3.5/5 - I don't know why, but this makes me think of a bass riff as a backing to a guitar rhythm. Not bad.

Probably because I've been a bassist for longer than I have been playing guitar I wasn't going for the traditional heavy metal sound, I wanted more of a Tad Morose esque sound which might explain that.

Alright, we might as well kick off round 2, Wildchild and Ultraussie can still join the game as long as they post their reviews. We obviously want as many of us to continue as possible, but at some point we have to move on if we don't hear from them. I'm hoping that the sooner we start this round, the sooner everyone has posted their riff.

Well it was meant to be its own little movement, but it is a little long ha. I'll re-record one of them and upload it tomorrow or Saturday. But I don't think we ever formally decided on this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abomination94

Valid point. We could do it like this; instead of just a riff, contestants create a short piece that fits the round/tournaments theme, it can be as complex as you want but pieces have to be under, say, a minute and half max.

Or we could stick to the original idea and just do a single riff. If everyone posts how they'd prefer to do it, we'll go with the most popular option.

Yeah true, but no one really made their opinion clear so we just went with the original idea. If we do this again I think we should try making a short piece rather than a single riff. It's probably be more interesting.